Dawn Staley heaps praise on Angel Reese's LSU vs South Carolina marquee matchup: "It had all the dynamics"

Angel Reese led the No. 9 LSU Tigers in a marquee matchup against Dawn Staley's undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks. The game ensued in The Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday evening.

The game lived up to its billing as the No. 1 Gamecocks had a rousing comeback to win 76-70 at the death after Reese had fouled out. The arena was sold out (13,205), and the fans made it a hostile environment for South Carolina throughout.

Staley was in good humor in her postgame news conference and cracked a joke when asked how she handled the hostile LSU crowd.

"Actually they were nice, they were calling me, Boo," Staley said. "I've never seen as many people in the plaza, of any plaza, for a regular season game."

"The energy in this building was great. Even though we were on the other side of it, I love being in the gym with people who are really loving up on women's basketball to this level, but it's not going anywhere, it's only gonna get bigger. It had all the dynamics of what you want every women's basketball player to experience."

What did Dawn Staley say about Angel Reese?

LSU star Angel Reese finished the game with 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists during a 29-minute outing. She even got physical with the imposing South Carolina forwards in the game.

With 5:58 remaining on the clock, she got her fourth foul. And a minute later, with 4:02 remaining, Reese fouled out with LSU leading by 2 points. That was the turning point in the game, as the Tigers could not close out the exciting game.

During her postgame news conference with ESPN, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley praised Reese and her impact on the game. She acknowledged that her absence helped the Gamecocks win.

“Angel is a talent. She's aggressive. She's poised. She's very unselfish,” Staley said. “She's mean, she's physical, she is somebody that you want to play with because you know she's going to play to the very end, she's going to give it her all. That's what you lose if you're LSU and she's out of the game for the last four minutes.

“When you lose Angel Reese, you lose a big part of what they do, because she touches the ball and she makes the right decisions.”

Staley showed her competitive and gracious side even though the teams are expected to be fierce opponents for the national championship come April.